A mobile device operating in a cellular network may sometimes experience a reduction in link quality, which may occur for any number of reasons. For instance, the device may move beyond the edge of coverage or a large obstacle may appear in the environment. Such a sudden reduction in link quality may result in poor or unacceptable performance at the device.
A hand-off of the device to a different cell or sector of the network may sometimes be impossible or at least challenging, such as in the previous example. In some cases, the mobile device may need to continue communicating in the current cell, perhaps even when a signal level or quality of the link is below a link budget threshold. Accordingly, there is a need for methods that enable the device to communicate in conditions or environments with reduced link quality.